Out in the cold You rightly draw attention to the problems faced by rural dwellers and others in obtaining access to broadband connections. However, you focus on two types of communities. First, where there are no technical difficulties involved, but BT considers the demand insufficient to upgrade the local exchange; and, second, areas such as the Eden Valley where there are genuine technical difficulties in providing broadband connections through the existing BT circuits. In time, both these types of communities will be offered access.

There is a further group of users who are denied broadband access at a reasonable cost and who are unlikely to be offered it in the foreseeable future: users in semi-rural areas, connected to BT exchanges in the nearest town by copper wires of a length greater than that regarded by BT as acceptable for ADSL. I live on the fringes of Greater Manchester and only a few miles from a sizeable town.

That exchange has been upgraded to broadband, but my application for this service was refused because the connecting wires are too long. Because people in this situation are a small proportion of the local population, it is unlikely any reasonable alternative service will be provided. Mike Lee mikelee@mikelee.co.uk

· There are a number of sites campaigning to bring broadband to rural areas. How about publishing a list so we can share ideas and compare alternate solutions, etc. Two for the list are: www.broadbandAlton.co.uk and www.broadbandMedstead.co.uk. Is your link to broadband forbritain incorrect? Should it be broadband4britain? Richard Care rcare@dial.pipex.com

Gates for PM I was horrified to learn that the government's e-envoy believes the technology is there to allow online voting. The biggest advantage of the manual system is that any one observer can point to a vote and say, "That vote has been placed on the wrong pile." Andrew Pinder should consider who will be qualified to make the same statement when the software declaresthe next prime minister of Britain is Bill Gates. Dave Neale dave.neale@btinternet.com

Search power Jack Schofield's Working the Web on Google (October 3) was helpful as ever. Here's another useful tip from Terry Kendrick, writing in Freepint, who suggests using phrases to find answers to specific questions. Using part sentences such as "is the smallest church in England" also harnesses the power of grammar. Bryan Pready bryan@merseymail.com

Port problem Dave Birch (Second Sight, October 3) seems sold on the AirPort device, but for a novice user of iMac on OS X, things are not so easy. Most ISPs don't support OS X and run for cover when asked about AirPort problems. Apple Helpline is generally useless. BT broadband is not available. Also, the AirPort manual states: "Important: Do not plug the base station into a digital telephone line." I took this to include an ADSL line from BT/broadband. Was I being over cautious? David Jones

Out of sync How does Dave Birch do it? I have been trying to sync my phone with my computer for some time. I looked at a Sim card reader with SimMate 2000 software (no Mac com patability) and I have just been on the Sony/Ericsson site (I have a J7 Sony phone similar to Birch's T68i) and again it seems as though the sync software for my phone is only Wintel compatible AND a hefty £42. Can you help me find a way through this problem? Chas Banks csbanks@ntlworld.com

Dave Birch replies: I use Apple's free iSync software which syncs iCal and Address Book with both the T68i and my Handspring Visor.

* GreenNet Internet Services is a non-profit organisation, part of the global APC network committed to reducing the gap between the information-poor and information-rich throughout the world. Their support service is second to none. Margaret Burr trebur@gn.apc.org

* Fish is an ISP run by Christian Aid Ltd, with a percentage of phone revenues and all profit from the www.fish.co.uk site going to help fund the charity's development work. Michael Wignall